Hello people im hoping that some one assist me to where good old steve feed me with more information then i can process and making my choices harder. I'm looking for a new digital camera and have started narrowing it down some, but don't know what would be the best for me. The type of camera's im looking at are SLR (Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTI &amp; Sony Alpha 100) and Super Zoom's (Panasonic DMC FZ18 /FZ50).

Now a little about me and what im looking for. I'm looking for a good camera for everyday use but I do travel lot for my job. I'm currently up in Wyoming by Yellowstone and there a some great views of mountains and wild life around. There deer, bears, elk, eagles, waterfalls around but nothing close enough to take with my ultra compact, or there in motion so its harder to get a clear picture without being blurry from the motion. Thats just from work.I like to travel and planning on heading to South America orMexicosee somepyarmids inMexico.Looking for something good for both telephoto and wide angle.

I know with the SLR camera's I would need to get extra lens where the Super Zooms already have 12x/18x Opitcal Zoom and 400-500 mm. Where even the Canon Zoom lens upgrade I'm looking at is only 70-300mm. Both SLR cameras are 10mega pixels where the 2 panasonic are 18x optical zoom / 8mp, and 12x o.z / 10 mp. I'm still looking to find more about SLR but steve loves both and refers to the other in both reviews.

I'm aware that SLR camera are about $600+ with extra for the lens, where the SuperZoom are about $350-$500. But please assist me on what YOU might think i would prefer and suit me better and just have fun playing with. Please note that this are not the only cameras I have to get but the one's I have been trying to do the most research and I'm leaning towards. If you have another camera within the same specs and price as above please let me know. I don't want to go up to $1500-2000 camera.

I think that, if photography is part of your job, you should definately get a dSLR. But if it's a hobby, and since you travel a lot, you might be better off carrying something smaller and lighter, and not so expensive that if it gets lost or stolen, you'd be out-of-pocket for the cost of a replacement.

Several people in theses forums have the Panasonic superzooms you mention, and are very happy with them. (You might take a look at some of the posts from DigitalGalfor some examples of what the Panasonic is capable of.)

You did not mention the Oly 510 as one of your options for a DSLR and I think you should. It's a fun camera, packed with features and capable of producing excellent images. The 4/3 system is a big plus for travellers because it helps cut down the size of the lenses significantly. The two-lens kit is a great value for the money and both lenses are good (some consider them excellent but I disagree. I think the old kit lenses are far superior). They are very light and compact and because the 4/3 has a 2x factor, the kit lenses cover a nice range of FL. The WA is 14-42mm (28-84mm) and the zoom is 40-150mm (80-300mm).

As for super-zooms, I have the FZ18 and find it to be a good 18x camera. However, Sony just announced the new H50 (available in May) and I'd certainly wait for it. It has a smaller lens (15x zoom) but great specs. I was not impressed with their last model (H9) but I have their first 12x cam (H1) and love it. If they fixed some of the main issues regarding IQ on the new H50, it may be worth the wait.

Another thing to consider is the crop factor of a dslr. Since the sensor on a dslr is smaller then the 35mm of a film camera you must multiply the focal length, both min and max by 1.62 for canon and 1.52 for nikon. This would make the 70-300 about 113-486, which is well inside the range of the superzooms u mention of 400-500mm